[Genealogy] Lived in Virginia for 66 Years, Who Was Mary Hart, and More

Sat Apr 18 17:49:14 CDT 2026

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Genealogy Update 18 April 2026

** Lived in Virginia for 66 Years

** DNA Price Reduction

** Who Was Mary Hart Who Knew the Natural Children of James Orrey?

** Brick Walls and AI

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Lived in Virginia for 66 Years

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…now resides in the county of Bedford, and state of Virginia, and has
resided there for the Space of 66 years past—and that previous thereto she
resided in England…

So goes part of an affidavit Mary Welsh made on 4 December 1841 in Bedford
County, Virginia.

Assuming sixty-six year time frame is correct, that would suggest she had
resided in Bedford County since around 1775. It’s possible that what Mary
really remembered is that she had lived in Bedford County since before the
American Revolution. It’s even possible that is the question she was asked.
Despite that, all we really know is what the document says.

But it goes on to say that before her arrival in Bedford County she had
lived in England. There was speculation that Mary was native American. This
statement seems to fly in the face of that belief. Mary’s husband, Dominick
Welsh, died in 1813 and never received a pension himself. This document was
actually not in her pension file at the National Archives and a review of
that file does not provide any information about Mary’s origins. This
document, from the Records of the Accounting Officers of the US Treasury)
is undigitized and unmicrofilmed and only exists in paper form. Had it not
been obtained I would not have discovered more information about Mary’s
origins.

This record serves as a great reminder to locate not only what’s online but
what is offline as well and to familiarize ourselves with all records–even
the ones we don’t typically use.

Thanks to Jonathan at www.soldiersource.com for locating this record at the
National Archives for me. It’s a great find.

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Who Was Mary Hart Who Knew the Natural Children of James Orrey?

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On what was probably a warm day in June of 1818 in what was probably
Bedford County, Virginia, Mary Hart made out an affidavit before Thomas
Logwood:

upwards of Twenty years ago […] James Orry made a will […] and Left his
Land to Mary Parkers four Children (viz) Nancy Parker Aaron Parker Moses
Parker & James Parker…

She probably never dreamed that two hundred years later someone would be
reading her affidavit. There’s also a good chance that she could not even
read it herself.

James Orrey’s will was never filed and apparently lost. His property
escheated to the State of Virginia. The Parkers were attempting to recover
it and Mary Hart’s affidavit was one item that was to be considered in lieu
of the will and the failure to record it. Mary Hart is not the only person
to make an affidavit for the Parkers and she’s not the only woman either.

Mary Welsh also makes out an affidavit in 1822 regarding the Parkers and
their connection to James Orrey. She refers to them as the “natural
children” of James Orrey, indicating that he was not married to their
mother when they were born. What is not mentioned in her affidavit is that
*she *was the mother of James Orrey’s children. She *was *the Mary Parker
with whom James Orrey had four children. At least she was Mary Parker when
she had children with James Orrey. She would later be Mary Welsh.

Mary Welsh’s giving an affidavit is pretty obvious. She was the mother of
the Parkers and would have first-hand knowledge of their relationship to
James Orrey. Her relationship was never stated in the affidavit. Mary Welsh
also indicted that she was a subscribing witness to James’ will. Mary
Hart’s affidavit contains that phrase, but it is struck out. It’s possible
the phrase was struck from Mary Hart’s affidavit because it wasn’t
relevant, but that seems highly unlikely since the phrase is contained in
Mary Welsh’s affidavit and the inheritance is key to the Parkers’ attempt
to recover the property of James Orrey from its escheatment to the State of
Virginia. What’s more likely is that Mary Hart was not a witness to the
Orrey will, but that she had first hand knowledge of the parentage of the
Parker children.

The question: who is Mary Hart?

The other question is: how did she have that first hand knowledge?

The first question may take some work to discover. Information on women is
not littered all over records in early 19th century Virginia. Census
records only list heads of household–usually men. Even if Mary Hart is
enumerated as a head of household, it may be difficult to determine if it’s
the right Mary Hart. There’s always the possibility that her last name was
some reasonable variation on Hart. The affidavit does not indicate where
she lived in 1818. While it was probably in Bedford County, Virginia, or
very near to it, there is nothing in the document that explicitly states
she lived there. Since she had knowledge of the relationship between Orrey
and the Parker children she likely lived near them at least during their
births. Locating more about Mary Hart will require determining if she was
single or married. If she was married, locating more about her will be
easier done by locating information on her husband.

The question of “how she had first hand knowledge?” may sound a little
creepy (or perhaps quite a bit creepy) and suggest that she was a local
busybody who knew everyone’s business. That’s not the intent. If she knew
Mary Parker was the mother of all of James Orrey’s children, how did she
come to that knowledge? It is possible she had some familial connection to
Orrey or to Parker.

Of course our research does not operate from the premise that Mary Hart is
related and that we are trying to prove it. Our research operates from the
desire to learn more about Mary Hart, knowing that she was associated with
the Orrey-Parker families well enough to vouch for the parent-child
connection.

A supplemental question: was there no man who could testify to this
parent-child relationship? If there was he likely would have testified
instead–given the realities of the time.

*Mary Hart’s affidavit appears in the petition of Moses Parker, James
Parker, John Parker, and Sarah Ramsey to the Virginia Legislature, 11
December 1822, all petitioners from Bedford County, Virginia, appearing in
“Legislative Petitions Digital Collections” on the Library of Virginia
Website (Richmond, Virginia) at*
http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/petitions.
<http://www.virginiamemory.com/collections/petitions>

Viewed on the Library of Virginia website on 19 August 2019. Mary Hart’s
affidavit is part of the Parker-Ramsey petition. Their request for relief
was granted.

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Genealogy Tip of the Day
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